#Manspiration: The Genius of James Charles

Remember when you were a 17 year old kid who thought it was so cool to skip class and hang out in the canteen? Well, James Charles is a lot like you… NOT. He is perhaps the coolest 17 year old around right now. An internet sensation, James is a makeup artist with skills that will put anyone to shame. More recently, an American makeup brand even signed him up to be their first male model, making history of sorts.

We’ve been following James on Instagram and YouTube for a while and well, we cannot get enough of his extraordinary skill. We love his ideas, his 100 km/hr talking speed, those insanely relatable tweets and the way he deals with haters.

A high school senior from Bethelehem, New York with on fleek eyebrows, James lives at home with his parents and kid brother. A year ago, he began posting pictures of himself in makeup and soon garnered a massive 4,00,000 followers on Instagram and 1,47,000 plus subscribers on his YouTube makeup tutorial channel.

It’s amazing how one year can change someone’s life entirely. James’ passion for makeup took him from being a small town boy to a viral sensation to an overnight celebrity who’s friends with Katy Perry and Zendaya. Interestingly, despite the constant travelling and working on his new campaign, he still keeps up with school work.

Does his unabashed confidence garner hate? Of course, it does. But James has gone on record to say that everyone has the right to their opinion and it doesn’t really affect him.

In an industry like beauty that’s predominantly catered to women, this American boy plays a key role in turning it genderless. Above all, James is doing more than simply breaking boundaries and gender stereotypes. He is transcending them.